Only This and Nothing More
by BreakInCaseOfEmergency
Summary: The Group have successfully infiltrated the Prison, and disposed of the rebellious inmates, yet a ghost story from Oscar and Axel prompt them to look for further survivors - an inmate called Raven. What will happen when they discover more than what they were bargaining for? Rated M for graphic walker kills and gore! :3 RICK/OC
1. Beware the Raven

Authors Note:

Hello everyone! This story has lots of POV changes and so, I thought that I would just make that clear right from the start, but it means that you can see the characters thoughts and feelings much more clearly this way :3

I hope you enjoy the first chapter! :D

Rick and the others in the group had allowed Oscar and another prisoner into their little group after the fiasco with the main group of other prisoners. Strangely enough, Rick wasn't excited about trying to bring in the little one who had run away. But Axel and Oscar had been fitting in well with the group and Rick had to say that it was a good idea to keep them in the group as he had decided. Oscar was a decent Walker-killer and both of them knew the prison very well, which let them stumble across the armoury and several other useful places throughout the prison.

Axel wasn't as good at Walker killing but he made up for it in other areas. One of them was that he was just a likable guy. To the point where he and Carol were now regularly seen holding hands and talking alone and he was playing chess with Hershel when others were off doing attacks on Walkers or scavenger runs. He was also good with Carl and Beth, even telling them horror stories.

It was one of these horror stories that had Rick wandering through the maximum security wing of the prison, towards the isolation cells.

Apparently one of the prisoners here, "The Raven", was always confined to isolation because she preferred it over the general population. It helped that the general prison population was apparently scared of the woman so they weren't about to complain. He noticed very early on that there were few to no Walkers around this area.

The other people searching for her included Oscar and Daryl but they had all split up to cover more ground, with Oscar taking the top floor of maximum security, Daryl taking the middle and Rick on the ground, making his way to isolation. Holding his magnum up ahead of him just in case there were Walkers, he had his flashlight on to illuminate the dark corners.

As he enter the isolation area he noticed that there were no Walkers to be seen anywhere, dead or moving around. He stayed in the door that led into the corridor of isolation cells, so that he had a clean shot if any Walkers jumped out,

"Hello?" he called out into the isolation area, lowering his gun slightly but keeping his flashlight up, "Anyone called Raven in here? I'm rapping... rapping upon your chamber door..."

He knocked on the door with a weak little chuckle.

Raven had been most displeased to hear that there were people in her area, when the prison had fallen she had claimed it as her area herself without anybody's help, she hadn't wanted anybody's help if she was honest with herself and she didn't want anyone around her even now. She had been lonely for the longest time but then again, it was self-inflicted and it was for the best, she wouldn't do well around people, she wasn't the most patient and forgiving of people.

Hence why she was attempting not to actually jump out and attack any of the people who were currently flitting about the maximum security prison area, sticking to the shadows she looked at the one who was entering her corridor where her bedroom was and she decided that it was getting a little too close to home, and that she would have to prevent it from coming closer.

Shifting slightly in the shadows she stepped out, the light from the window glistening on her chainsaw as she held it pointed down to the floor, but that could change in a matter of seconds if it needed to. It was a handy weapon, Betty, she had gotten her out of many sticky situations, and she was glad that she had the foresight to actually raid the wood shop.

"Is that supposed to be amusing?" she asked in a voice like silk but laced with danger, as Raven's eyes glinted in the dark she stepped forwards again so she could clearly be seen in the light "What are you doing here, this is my home?"

Raven, taking in the man's appearance tilted her head to one side, her large eyes were moving up and down his form, taking in his strengths which appeared to be many, and his weaknesses which were few. Fortunately, she could make that same assessment of herself.

"You should leave." she advised in that same voice.

Rick heard the sound of footsteps before she spoke and spun round to face her, his gun poised to shoot her down if she was hostile. When she just spoke to him rather than attacking, he lowered his gun slightly. But it was still ready in case he needed to take her out because she had suddenly decided to start using that massive chainsaw she was lugging around. Honestly he was surprised they hadn't heard that thing echoing through the prison,

"Call it nerves, my opening jokes are never funny." he told her with a small smirk, knowing that she wasn't really amused by his quote. When she stepped into the light he observed her carefully. He nodded a little bit, "I had heard that you lived here. I just wanted to see if I could talk to you on the behalf of my group considering we're neighbours of a sort."

She was a competent looking sort but was clearly more than a little bit crazy. Unfortunately for Rick she was the kind of crazy that was dangerous, that amplified violence and tended to make them attack stronger and with more savagery than any sane person could accomplish. But then again the same could be said for him at times. Rick had noticed that when he got really angry now he would become more of a berserker against Walkers than anything else. Hopefully he'd never have to see who would win in a fight because the 'winner' would most likely die a few seconds later,

"Are you sure we can't talk?" he tried to reason with her, "We have food, medicine, a doctor, weapons, clothes... we could help each other out."

Raven's eyes widened a little bit when she heard that they had moved into the prison, she had been used to having it just for her and the walkers for so long she didn't know that they were planning on making themselves a permenant fixture. Gritting her teeth, she had to come to terms rather quickly with sharing her home with other people, it was big enough she supposed but...she had been used to not sharing for a long long time.

Wondering how big the group was, she furrowed her gaze, not happy with this news in the slightest, or the idea that they seemed to be wanting something from her, otherwise why would they be bothering to talk to her? They should have just left her alone.

"Why would you want to talk to me?" she asked with a smirk "I keep to myself I'm no trouble, if anything, you're causing me trouble, this is my house and you didn't even ask if you could stay here, how rude." she grinned wickedly, her eyes taking on a rather malicious glint.

When the man tried to continue to talk to her, she turned around and looked at him over her shoulder, why on earth would she be interested in anything they had to offer, she was doing fine just on her own. Although, she really should try and collect some rent because they were living in her home after all, it was only fair that they gave her a little something to placate her.

But what would she take from them she wondered?

"Speak plain." she stated with a small frown "What is it that you want from me, and what is it that I can expect from you in return, forgive me but if company and a good chat is all your offering...you're speaking to the wrong person."

Resting her chainsaw on the floor, she let it scrape a little bit, and hearing something upstairs she frowned at the ceiling, someone was upstairs, that wasn't very nice to be snooping around her section of the prison, that was where she had her collection...she would be sure to check if they had taken anything when she was done with this man.

"How many people have you sent creeping around my house?" she asked in a harsh tone.

Rick could tell that she wasn't happy about the fact that he and the others had moved into the prison but to be fair he hadn't seen her name on the place. Childish? Yes. But necessary. If you wanted to own anything in this new world you had to mark you territory and she had left her front gate wide open for them to move right on in. He could imagine her reluctance to share but to be honest he would settle for 'not enemies' if the stories about her were true. And by the looks of her chainsaw and the madness in her eyes they might just be true.

When she asked why they would want to talk to her he was confused for a moment. Perhaps she thought that they wanted to exploit her or something? He smiled a little bit,

"We want to see if we can get along and co-exist here." he told her before chuckling a little bit, "But we're not bad house guests to be fair. We've been cleaning up the pesky Walkers. Sorry we couldn't ring the doorbell though."

He could tell that this offer was going nowhere. Well then there was only one more offer he could reasonably give and that was one of mutual protection. Considering scouts from a larger group had been trying to harass them, it wasn't too hard,

"Alright then, different offer." he agreed before he scowled slightly at something, "There's another group in the area. In some town called "Woodbury". They're trying to stake their claim to the prison too and they seem to have the manpower to do it. I suggest we work together to keep them out of the prison and maybe take some of their supplies and food."

He noticed that she didn't seem happy with the idea of other people being in this section of the prison. Chuckling a little bit he tilted his head slightly to the side,

"Would you believe none?" he joked before shaking his head, "Just two. We didn't know what level you would be on so we split up. Want them to come down?"

Raven raised an eyebrow when he said that they wanted to live peacefully with each other here, she couldn't help but smirk a little bit, she didn't think that was going to be possible especially given the fact that they had just snooped on in here quite rudely. Would then do so again, most likely. Especially if there were any annoying children in the group, they would certainly come poking around in her rooms...she could see it now.

It seemed however like she was going to have to play ball, if she didn't say yes, gun beat chainsaw at this range and she was sure that if he didn't get the answer he wanted this man wasn't above playing hardball to get it. It was something she would have admired if it wasn't directed towards her at this moment.

"Co-exisiting is simple. Leave me alone. I'll leave you alone. We shall co-exist just fine." shrugging her shoulders she scraped the chainsaw along the floor a little bit, making a white scratch on the stone "Walkers are no problem for me, I can take care of them on my own, why should I care if they're all dead in a section I don't use?"

The idea of someone else wanting to take the prison, made her scowl. She had been alone in here for the longest time and these people show up and create all these problems for her, and she had to help them clean it up? This is why she hated being around people, they always wanted something from her, always expecting from her. Could she never get a conversation without someone wanting anything? Of course not, it was part of their nature.

"I don't suppose I have much choice if people are trying to take my home from me, but I never had this problem before, people left this place alone and I made sure of it, you and your group must have attracted too much attention to yourselves." she hissed softly "What will you give me for me helping protect your group, because I assure you I require no protection myself."

Snarling a little bit she tightened her grip on her chainsaw's handle;

"Yes I do. You can't just come in here and then wander through my private rooms!" Raven growled "I have things in there that are personal! But you don't care do you? As long as you get what you want? Just waltz through here and disturb me, make me do deals I don't want to do simply because you're here now? If they've touched a thing...and believe me I will know..." she hissed, leaving the threat open.

Rick had to admit that she was pushing him quite far. He was trying to be the nice guy about this but the cold hard fact of the matter was that he had a gun. Not only did he have a gun but it was drawn and still aimed in her general direction. If needs be this could become very hostile and he would still have a comfortable victory as long as she didn't close the distance between them before then. He could tell that their little arrangement was going to be rather interesting,

"Seems reasonable enough I suppose. But if you need more food or supplies feel free to ask and we'll see what we can spare." he assured her, still trying to be somewhat the good guy. He chuckled a little bit, "I can see they're no problem for you. You've cleared this section very well."

When she seemed to think that it was their fault for attracting scouts here his eyes narrowed dangerously and he briefly entertained the idea of putting a bullet through her knee to see if she was still feeling up to throwing blame around. He ignored the idea in the end though even though his grip on his pistol tightened slightly,

"We captured one of the scouts and he said they had been ordered to check the prison just because it was defensable. They didn't know any of us were here until they tried to get in." he told her with a small smile, "So we're not to blame for them arriving. As for what we give you... what do you eat Raven? We're planting gardens, we can produce fresh vegetables and game meat for you. Not to mention we're working on getting the power running to all parts of the prison again. Including yours."

Rick held one hand up in a placating manner,

"Hey, just calm down. We're not here to mess around with your stuff, we're just here to get to meet you is all." he told her calmly, "After this little meeting we'll only see each other when you want to or there's something very serious come up."

Just then both Oscar and Daryl came down. Rick was relieved right up until he noticed that Daryl was carrying a little teddy bear. He wanted to groan in annoyance,

"Hey ther'..." Daryl greeted Raven cautiously, one hand on his crossbow ready to fire, "I don' suppos' this is yer bea' huh?"

Raven almost threw up when he was trying to be so sicklingly nice to her, she really couldn't care less what this complete stranger thought about her, he hadn't even had the manners to tell her his name, and yet he was here threatening her with that gun of his? If he had been told about her this was hardly a good way to get her to warm up to him, pointing a gun at a crazy person too long didn't yield very good results.

Merely letting her neutral gaze land on the man she quirked one eyebrow upwards and she shook her head lightly a smirk on her lips when she thought about having to share her prison with a man like this, clearly he was not many steps off herself, he'd kill to get what he wanted, if he was pushed enough. They shared this in common she could see already.

The look in his eyes when she blamed his group only confirmed what she had just thought, and she laughed softly to herself, running her hand through her hair and moving it back from her eyes;

"You know, drop the nice guy act..." she grinned wickedly "And you're not far off from being like me, maybe you should consider asking for a cell in here, in a few months I suspect we'll be closer than you think, living in a prison, working or not, does things to you after all."

Merely waving off the idea of a garden, Raven placed a hand on her hip and looked at the man, how did he think she had lived here all this time? Off tinned beans and rats? For a time she had lived off things like that, but not anymore;

"No need, I have my own garden. Before you ask, no. No you can't have any." she smirked.

Hearing more people coming Raven began to panic a little bit, she hadn't been around this many people unconfined since the prison fell, and that was hardly an appropriate social situation, cutting people's heads and limbs off was quite accepted in that frantic chaos...now, probably not so much. It was not helped by the fact one of these strangers was carrying one of her items...

Raven gritted her teeth and growled at the man before trying to calm, and holding out a rather shaky hand;

"That's mine...give it back." she stated simply, not trusting herself to say anything else.

Rick could already tell that she was going to be interesting to be around on a good day. Downright frustrating to be around on a bad day. And that was actually a rather good thing in his book. To him, people should act on their emotions and she was doing just that. It wasn't her fault that her emotions seemed to be on a slight shorter fuse, or at least have less morality involved with them. When she told him to drop the act he froze up for a second before he relaxed, a small little smirk on his lips,

"It's not an act most of the time." he told her with his small smirk widening slightly, "I already sleep inside one of the cells. Perhaps it won't be a stretch for me to need one one day... but not now, not while my group needs me."

She was right though. Rick could feel himself being dragged down by the world they lived in now. The Rick Grimes who had set out to find his family was worlds away from the Rick Grimes of today. The earlier Rick would probably try and arrest him, he reflected in amusement. When she said she had her own garden he chuckled lightly,

"Wasn't going to ask." he told her with a little shrug, "But if you need anything from us ask and we'll see if we have it to spare. I mean we've got a lot of books for some reason in case you wanted some light reading."

Rick could see that she was going to go nuclear unless Daryl gave back the teddy bear and he hoped that the redneck would have the sense to do so. Daryl shook his head,

"Na', we nee' tis' fer lil asskick'r." he decided before shrugging, "Com' on lady, a baby nee's it mor' tan yer do righ'?"

Seeing that this was going to end badly, Rick moved up to Daryl and shook his head, staring the man down. Daryl took one look at his leader before sighing and handing the teddy over. Rick knew that Daryl wouldn't be mad about it either thankfully. Taking the teddy bear, Rick took a few steps closer to Raven and holstered his gun. It was a display of trust but it was a definite risk. He held it out for her to take,

"I'm sorry about the teddy bear being taken from your collection." he told her honestly, "The guy who took it's Daryl. The other guy is Oscar. I'm Rick, sorry for our little meeting. Not the best first impression I know but I hope we can move past it."

Raven giggled a little bit, of course, it was a good thing that the man admitted that he was so close to belonging in here, she supposed that a lot of people belonged in here now to be honest it was what the world made them. She was actually quite interested to see what the rest of his group was like, perhaps she should play nice, it would be good to have some friends...maybe.

As long as they understood her limits, then there should be no problem.

"Oh how boring, and here I thought you were a wolf in lambs clothing." she sighed lightly shrugging "Never mind I am sure my match is out there somewhere just waiting for me."

Humming a little bit, she rested her hand on her hip, she was going to go back on what she said, perhaps she could give some things from her collection to this group on loan as long as they promised that they would keep it in good condition, if they didn't she wouldn't be happy, she would be more than a little bit pissed off to be honest.

"I suppose...if you wanted you could look and see if there's anything you wanted to borrow from the Collection...as long as you took care of it." Raven murmured, almost begrudgingly although she had just resolved to give them something, call it her loneliness acting up on her.

Raven, when she heard that their group had a baby, let her eyes widen a little bit. A baby? Turning her gaze away she couldn't stop her conflicting emotions, she wanted to see the little chubby cute thing, to hold it, but then again, it could remind her too much of the baby she had once had, that was taken away from her, and was the reason why she was here if she was honest.

When the man approached her, she took the teddy from his hands and ran her fingertips over his small glass eyes;

"This teddy bear isn't suitable for under three year olds." she whispered softly "If you had asked, I would have helped you find something more suitable. Tell me...what is the babies name?" Raven asked, perhaps for the first time in the conversation her madness was dropping away, maybe it was a good thing for her to be around people after all...? She didn't know.

When she said that she had hoped that he was a wolf in sheep's clothing he chuckled a little bit as he remembered some of the killing he'd done. She wasn't too far away from being right, he decided. He tried to act the paragon of goodness and happiness when the truth was probably closer to what Raven was observing. He might not be deceiving his group to hurt them in the future but he was a wolf, he was a bit of a monster on the inside,

"I'm more like a sheepdog." he told her with a grin, showing all his teeth, "All the bite of the wolf but with a purpose, something to defend."

When she seemed to change her mind about her collection he blinked a few times. Depending on what was in the collection this offer could be incredibly helpful to the group. He smiled a little bit,

"That's very generous of you Raven, I promise that if you let us borrow anything that we'll take excellent care of it and return it when you ask." he assured her before grinning a little bit, "And if you want we can add some things to your collection that we find."

He could tell that the fact that their group included a baby was something of a good point for them, Raven seemed to be thinking extra hard about the baby but she had such a sad look on her face when she did. Perhaps she had had a baby taken off of her or maybe she'd lost it? Maybe she was just feeling broody? He didn't know. He nodded a little bit,

"Thank you. She's only a few days old so far..." he whispered quietly, looking down at the floor for a moment when she asked for the baby's name, "Sophia. Sophia Lori Grimes. She's... she's my daughter and her mother recently passed away. But she's a little fighter. It's why her nickname is little asskicker. If you'd like you could see her sometime?"

Raven grinned when he showed his teeth to her, she wanted to think that he was rather like her, it would make it easier to interact with the group, although she would probably not interact with them much for their own good, she just hoped that she wouldn't start to react badly to them, because then if she had made friends she would have to distance herself from them.

The very idea of making friends was something that Raven hadn't thought of for a long long time, but maybe in a world like this it would be possible for her.

"I have something to defend, but I would never liken myself to a dog." she smirked a little bit "Its just degrading, don't you think?"

Glad to hear that she was going to be able to show someone her collection, although she was initially hostile about it she really thought that she was going to be proud of all the work she had done now that she had someone to show it to. The idea that they might be able to add to it was a happy one as well, she loved the idea of expanding her collection, although it was vast already there was always more to add.

"Well then follow me." she smiled lightly, brightly even as she turned and wandered towards the stairs the other two men had come down "You two can stay here." Raven growled a little bit, stealers weren't welcome in her collection she couldn't trust them.

As she walked up the stairs, she listened intently to Rick telling her about his child, Sophia was a beautiful name and she felt her heart tug, her baby had been a beautiful girl too, although she would have called her Charlotte, it was one of her favourite names. Hearing that the mother had passed away she bit her lip, she couldn't help but feel bad for Rick, but at least the mother wouldn't have to watch her child being taken away from her.

"I'm not sure whether...whether that's such a good idea." she whispered softly "But, I would very much like to see her...Sophia is a beautiful name, if you need anything for her, and you see it here, you can take it, just as long as you tell me."

Rick smirked wider when she grinned at him. Here was a person he could act his most 'socially unacceptable' around and it would actually translate into understanding between the two of them. He could tell that she was unlikely to ever interact with the rest of the group too much but that was alright. She was entitled to her privacy and that was perfectly acceptable to him. Others in the group might be concerned she wasn't in sight but they could all go suck lemons since he was the one in charge,

"Ah not too degrading for me I think. I rather like sheepdogs." he said with a little chuckle before smirking slightly, "Besides, you're much more of a wolf than a sheep or sheepdog. Maybe a renegade wolf... maybe."

When she seemed to wanted to actually show her collection to him he smiled happily. This was good. They were bonding over the collection and he would be able to see if there was going to be anything he would want to borrow. Of course he could understand why the others weren't allowed to come,

"Why don't you guys head back?" he suggested as he went after Raven, "Thanks for trusting me enough to let me see your collection. I'm very curious about it I have to admit."

Rick slipped into thoughts about Lori and his baby as they walked and they were definitely not happy thoughts. He hadn't liked his wife towards the end but he liked to think that they could have worked things out eventually. He smiled a little bit, faintly,

"Well you can at least come and see her. If you're still not sure you don't have to hold her or anything." he told her before smiling a little bit, "Thanks for the offer but all she really needs right now is formula. Although... I don't suppose you've got a soft towel or something? Like a child's blanket?"

Raven smirked a little bit, she didn't know if Rick was trying to compliment her or not, she hoped that he was, because now that she knew he had a baby and his wife was dead, it was an almost perfect family setting for her to slide on into. Although she didn't really deserve a family after what she had done...even though it had been all his fault...all his fault!

Stopping her thoughts from turning to those dark times again she shook her head, and she turned her attention to the collection, they were approaching it now and her hand was resting on the doorknob of the cell block that she had placed it in.

"I hope you're not trying to compliment me." she smirked "A girl can get ideas, especially when she has been alone as long as I have."

Opening the door to the collection, she allowed Rick to enter before her and she smiled proudly at the little collection of things that she had gathered over the months she had been freed. Everything was alphabetised, she thought that it would be the easiest way to organise everything, so she could find something quickly by the first letter.

"I collect everything that I see, I wanted to be able to preserve as much of human culture as it was and so, I thought it would be best to do something like this. It is nowhere near completed...but it has a fair few things."

Grinning she walked over to the second pile and looked through a pile of blankets, before pulling out one near the bottom and smoothing it out a little bit, it was a blue blanket which normally was used for boys but she supposed that beggars couldn't be choosers when it came to the things available in a situation like this, although she was unhappy she didn't have a better blanket, although the cute ducks on this one were sweet.

"Here, unfortunately it is blue, not a normal girl colour however, it does have little ducks on it." she stated with a light smile "I doubt I'll want it back full of child slobber so...you keep it."

Rick was actually trying to compliment her, he realised only when she pointed it out. Of course he didn't much care when it came right down to it. He wanted to compliment her and there was no Lori to tell him off for saying anything nice about, or to, any woman at all. When she commented on it though he chuckled a little bit and shook his head slightly,

"Well I actually was trying to compliment you." he admitted before smirking a little bit and shaking his head slightly, "Although not for that reason. If I was going to compliment you like that, trust me, you'd know I was doing it."

When he stepped into the collection room he couldn't help but let out an impressed whistle. She really had packed this room to the gills and she said that it was nowhere near complete. When she explained that it was to show the entire history and culture of the human race he acknowledged that she wasn't anywhere near completion despite having a very sizable collection of useful things,

"That's a worthy goal." he agreed with a small grin before nodding too, "Yes just a fair few things. I must say that it's a very impressive collection even if it isn't complete yet."

When she handed him the baby blanket he held it lightly in his hand for a moment. It hadn't really sunk in very much but holding this in his hand, for some reason, he realised that he was a father. He smiled a little bit,

"I think having a blue blanket is going to be the least of the girl's worries." he joked lightly before smiling at her, "Thank you Raven, thank you so much. If you ever want anything specific collecting ask and I'll go out and fetch it."

Well that was it! :D

I hope you liked it, it seems like there is a growing friendship between the two already! :D

Look forwards to the next chapter, all ready pre written and ready to be uploaded :3


	2. House Guest

Authors Note:

Hello again! :D

Second chapter up nice and speedy for you :D

It's a long one so, enjoy that :3

Rick had decided that it was about time for Raven to come and meet the rest of the group, including little baby Sophia. He knew that she was rather excited at the prospect of seeing baby Sophia but much less so about all of the others. But in the end she would come around he had no doubt.

However, he wasn't really hopeful that they would survive if they all went to her part of the prison. With only three of them in the entire wing of the prison she had gotten incredibly territorial and angry, especially when Daryl took something from her collection. And to be honest he didn't trust the rest of the group to keep to themselves and not try and take at least one or two things from the collection.

So Rick had come alone to her section of the prison to invite her to come to their section of the prison. Surprisingly enough there was a path between the two of them, all they had to do was going through the exercise yard. And Rick had taken that opportunity to work up an appetite for the meal that was being prepared for Raven's arrival. How? Oh by clearing the couple dozen Walkers in the exercise yard.

Opening the door to Raven's maximum security wing, he stood in the doorway and looked around for her. Not seeing her immediately he knocked loudly on the door,

"Raven?" he called out, "It's Rick. I thought you might like to come and meet the group, we're having spaghetti and meatballs."

Raven was swinging on the homemade tyre swing she had made in the third floor of the maximum security area, she liked this part of it best, it was where her garden was and it was almost like a little playground. Maybe one day when she was older, little baby Sophia would enjoy using this swing too? Or if they had to move, maybe Raven could build her another one? Yes she was certain that she would enjoy the swing.

Although she was upstairs she could hear when someone knocked on the floors below because it echoed, pricking her ear up and hearing that it was Rick who was knocking on the door, Raven grinned and hopped off the swing, moving to snatch up Betty before heading down the stairs. She had been looking forwards to seeing Rick again, so much so she had been practicing controlling herself better, because she wanted to hold his little baby Sophia.

As she came down the stairs she ended up behind Rick and she grinned;

"Boo!" Raven shouted playfully "I would enjoy very much having spaghetti and meatballs, I haven't had them in a long time, just...lettuce and...tomatoes."

Almost retreating into her own thoughts for a minute Raven stared at the ceiling before smiling again and slinging Betty over her shoulders, she was wearing a little guard so that the blades wouldn't dig into her skin, it made it a lot more comfortable to carry.

"I will have to meet the rest of your group I suppose." she sighed "I hope that they haven't been fed any bad stories about me, because we all know they aren't true." Raven teased with a wicked grin.

Rick had been able to spot Raven coming down the stairs out of the corner of his eye but he decided to humour her and not react at all. He had found that she rather liked surprising people. When she playfully shouted he actually jumped. Not because he was shocked but because loud noises tended to be bad nowadays,

"You're a little devil sometimes you know that?" he teased her before grinning a little bit, "Well Hershel has been slaving over a hot stove all day with them. The meat is from cans but the tomato sauce isn't and the pasta is good."

Noting that she was taking the chainsaw with her but in a little protective casing so she wouldn't cut herself accidentally. When she commented about stories he chuckled nervously,

"Well there were a few horror stories thrown around before we met you but they were all in good fun." he told her, quick to add the last part. He held out an arm like a gentleman, "Now Madame, may I escort you across this field of slaughter that I created on my way over?"

Leading her across the bloodied exercise yard, kicking the remains of a Walker out of the way of the door, he held the door open to his side of the prison for her. Once she was inside he called out,

"Hershel!" he called out, "We've got a guest!"

Leading her to what had become the dining area, Rick smiled when he saw Hershel working on a cooker that they had moved out of the prison's actual kitchen. Thankfully it was electric so it worked just fine with the generator going. Hershel tested the sauce from the giant vat of the stuff before turning to greet her with a friendly smile,

"Hershel Greene, a pleasure to meet you Miss Raven." he greeted her in a friendly manner, "Would yer like some Italian cheese with yours?"

Raven found she was more than a little playful when it came to Rick, and she quite liked it, she hadn't been playful around anybody for a long long time even before she was put in this prison she had her fair share of sadness and heart ache. Now, she had come to accept her madness and she was trying to adjust, now that she had some people who might actually be worth trying to do that for. She supposed she'd find that out today.

"I try." she teased "Well it sounds like a right gourmet meal, compared to what we're used to having, and its hot, I'm looking forwards to having a hot meal, my camp stove ran out of gas a few weeks back." Raven sighed softly.

Blinking when Rick held his arm out for her Raven rather hesitantly looped her arm with his, to be honest she didn't know why he had done what he did but she supposed that he was just trying to be nice. Whistling as she stepped through all the walker carcasses, Raven tilted her head to one side at a particularly mangled corpse. Well...he really was more like her than she thought he would be.

"This is some fine handy work, I should congratulate you." she grinned "Although I suppose you just didn't want to go around the long way to my block, and decided to create a shortcut?"

More than a little nervous when she entered the new block, Raven took a few minutes to stand in the entrance and familiarise herself, letting her arm slip out of Rick's. Her attention was snapped back however when the man called Hershel actually talked to her, and she couldn't help but let her lips twitch up into a small smile, he was cute, like a grandpa or Santa Claus.

"P-pleased to meet you too." she replied, thoroughly bewildered, nobody had been pleased by meeting her in...well years "I'm Raven Scott, and uhm...sure I'll go for some cheese."

Rick was glad to see that she was a lot more vibrant when he was around her without the added presence of a "stealer" as she called Daryl. He chuckled a little bit when she mentioned that it would be like a gourmet meal compared to what they normally all got. He had to agree. Sometime during the winter he had gotten to the point where he couldn't stand the sight of baked beans, much less eat them. But they were one of the most popular types of canned goods,

"It does sound like a nice little feast doesn't it? Well apparently Hershel says that if he can get better ingredients he can do stuff like this more often." he told her before raising an eyebrow, "Well what size is it? We've got plenty of refills for camp stoves but we don't use them anymore. You're welcome to them if you don't want to share the electric cooker with us."

When she accepted his hand he blinked once before smiling wider. He had actually been doing it for some light hearted humour, fully expecting her to just ignore him. When she actually accepted it made him smile happily to himself,

"Why thank you my dear, I decided that I wasn't feeling hungry enough yet so I worked up an appetite before coming to get you." he explained before laughing a little bit, "That wasn't the reason but at least we do now have a good shortcut."

Seeing that Hershel and Raven seemed to be getting along, Rick left the room real quick to go and round up the others who were eating with them. Hershel smiled,

"Miss Scott or just Raven?" he asked politely before nodding a little bit, "Alright then, we've gotten a bowl of the stuff for the occasion. I'll put it next to your bowl so you can help yourself to it first."

Rick returned at that moment with Carl and Beth. He gestured to Carl and the teen smiled a little bit to Raven,

"Pleased to meet you Raven, I'm Carl Grimes." he introduced himself before Beth did likewise, in a much quieter voice. Carol, Maggie, Oscar, Axel and Glenn all came in next, all giving polite greetings as they sat down at the table. Carol handed the baby Sophia to Rick, he held the baby carefully in his arms before settling her into a highchair they'd found. Pulling out a chair, he gestured for Raven to sit,

"After you Raven, you are our guest after all." he explained before gently tickling Sophia, causing the tiny baby to gurgle happily, "Sophia says hi I think."

Raven was feeling more than a little bit disorientated at the moment she had never had so many people introduce themselves to her, and being this nice to her! Rick had even touched her and she hadn't gone off the deep end at him, she must have been onto something with the techniques she had been using because they appeared to be working wonders for her.

Immediately she took a liking to Hershel, he was such a sweet old man, and she hoped that he would remain that way, she would have hated to have put Betty through him if he was mean to her. Noting that he didn't have a leg she tilted her head to one side and rather rudely stared until she remembered her manners and coughed lightly.

"Just Raven is fine." she stated softly, nobody had called her Miss. Scott since her attorney had given up hope of trying to represent her to be honest, Miss Scott made her sound far too posh to be applied to her "Uhm...thank you. Thats very...nice."

When each person introduced themselves to her she blinked and merely stared at them all with wide eyes, trying her best not to feel very panicked, Raven concentrated on trying to remember everyone's names, instead of the feelings that she was squashing down and it seemed to work for the most part.

"Nice to meet you all." Raven stated in a rather bewildered manner, it was just so surreal to her!

What was even more surreal was when Rick pulled a chair out for her, nobody had done that in ages, probably because she hadn't been around anyone for ages, and even when she was she wasn't the hottest of dates and so manners weren't really on the top of the cards. Sitting down on the chair she took off Betty from her shoulder, removed the metal guard from under her shirt, and hung her from the strap on the back of the chair.

"Thank you." she smiled lightly, and when she saw Baby Sophia her smile grew larger and she almost wanted to hold her in her arms right now, the adorable little laugh made her heart melt, and she swiftly realised - she loved babies! "Oh she's so beautiful...aren't you...aren't you?" Raven spoke in the patented baby voice.

Rick had to admit that it was rather amusing to see the big bad Raven looking so bewildered and so confused at people merely saying hello and then their names. It was nice to see that she wasn't just a killing machine like some of the group had thought/feared. She was a lovely woman by his reckoning. He smiled a little bit at Hershel though, the older man was being as polite as he was to any other member of the group, not treating her any differently to how he treated anyone else,

"Alright then dear, Raven it is." Hershel agreed as he began to plate up the food into the bowls, Beth helping her father by holding the bowls. Beth presented the first bowl to Raven and passed her the bowl of finely grated Italian cheese as well, "I hope it's good and I hope you're not allergic to anything. I had some time on my hands and some spices for the first time in almost two years... I might have gone a little over the top."

The rest of the group seemed to be feeling a little bit awkward, not sure what to say beyond introductions. However, that quickly changed when the food arrived for all of them and the table became rather animated with life. It was like a large, dysfunctional, family gathering if Rick was honest. Carl was trying to flirt with a lightly blushing Beth while Hershel looked on with an expression half-way between annoyed and amused. Carol was chatting away to Axel, who seemed to have zoned out half way through the conversation and Glenn and Maggie were making eyes at each other. Rick turned to Raven with a small smirk,

"Sorry about this." he explained, "Dinner time is a chance for those of us not on watch to relax and act like none of this is going on... no Walkers and all that. Its fun for a little while."

Chuckling a little bit at her little baby voice, Rick finished off his meal before standing up. Helping baby Sophia out of the highchair, he gently held her out for Raven to take,

"You want to hold her?" he asked with a smile, "She seems pretty hungry... you could feed her from the bottle if you wanted."

Raven's mouth popped open when she was called 'dear' my god did these people not know that she was...well she wasn't normal in any sense of the word? But they were still treating her so well, despite what they might have heard about her from the other men in the prison, of course, she had almost done a Hannibal Lecter once in the food hall...so...it wasn't all completely wrong.

"No I'm...I'm not allergic to anything except strawberries." she stated with a small smile "I am sure I will enjoy it very much, it is better than salad, which is what I would have been having."

Taking the bowl from Beth she flashed her a grin, that probably came out a little bit more wicked than she really meant it to, but she was sure that she wouldn't scare the girl. Picking up her fork she twirled the spaghetti around it and very cautiously cut up a meatball and speared a piece on the end. As soon as she tasted it she smiled lightly, it was a very nice meal!

"It tastes lovely Hershel." Raven complimented "The spices make the sauce taste even better, a shame Rick didn't mention you were making tomato sauce, I could have given you some fresh ones."

For a moment she just looked at the group, they were interacting so well together and it must be nice to be part of a family like this...she couldn't remember a time that she had been with a family or even a group where they were all so happy to be eating with each other. Smiling softly at Rick she shook her head; "It is nice, just to hear others talking."

Looking down at her plate, she almost pouted, she had eaten it all already? As soon as Rick asked her if she wanted to hold baby Sophia Raven nodded her head, and swiftly took her into her arms, she was so delightfully soft and warm! Running her fingers across the soft little tufts of hair she had, Raven bit her lip and nuzzled her nose with the babies.

"You are just so cute aren't you? Mhm yes you are." she grinned "I would love to, if you know...you're alright with that." Raven asked, hoping it would be, she just couldn't get enough of this little sweet talc smelling thing.

Rick was glad to see that she was making an effort to get along with everyone, even if her grin had made Beth feel a little bit awkward. That was only because she was the only one to give Beth a smile so it was a good kind of awkward he found. Chuckling a little bit at the friendly conversation going on between Hershel and Raven, Rick sipped at his drink as the others chatted and ate their meals. Hershel glanced at Rick when she mentioned fresh tomatoes,

"Yes Rick did mention that you had a garden." Hershel said with a small smile, "I'd love to cook up some of them if you ever want me to. We also have a barbeque out the back so we could do some lovely vegetable skewers if you wanted."

Even as he handed Sophia over to Raven, Rick was aware that some of the people at the table were giving him looks. Apparently they didn't agree that it was a good idea. Thankfully for Raven and her love of the little baby, their opinions on the matter, while noted, was not something he really cared about,

"Yeah sure, Hershel was warming it up in some nearly boiling water for a bit right Hershel?" he asked the elderly man, who merely smiled and nodded his head. Rick took the bottle out of the boiling water and tested it by splashing some on the back of his hand. Seeing that it was perfect, he handed it to Raven, "There you go Raven."

Carol seemed to find her voice and looked between Raven, Rick and baby Sophia before she looked back up at Rick,

"Er Rick..." she began, getting his attention, "Are you sure that's a good idea?"

Rick raised an eyebrow,

"Why wouldn't it be?" he challenged her, causing Maggie to pick up the argument,

"Well, no offence, but Raven doesn't seem like the type to be gentle." she reasoned with a small frown, "I just don't think you should give your baby over to her like that."

Rick raised his eyebrow further still before shaking his head and looking at the naysayers in the group. He looked them each in the eye in turn,

"I appreciate your concern for Sophia." he told them before adding, "But as you've pointed out... she is my baby."

There was finality in his voice that seemed to suggest this was over, even though Carol and Maggie both looked like they would like very much to speak up. Rick collected some cans of coca cola from the supplies, handing them out to everybody. He smirked a little bit at Raven and Sophia,

"Awwww I think she likes you. She's settling right down to sleep for you."

Raven smiled lightly, she was bursting with pride about the fact that she might be able to help the people in the other little group by giving them some of her fresh vegetables, she really did think it was a good idea to make a garden and it just showed her that she sometimes, could actually do something useful. Even though they were only in pots and not in the soil she had a fair number of plants, so they gave as much as needed.

"Why don't you just come and see if there's anything you like." she smiled softly "I have some sprouts growing, although you won't thank me for that Carl...there's a tyre swing I made so...feel free to come use it sometimes if you'd like to."

Of course, she knew that she was inviting people to come into her home whenever they liked really and she thought that she had better fix that, coming in when she wasn't expecting them really wasn't a good idea; "Just, make sure you tell me you're there before you go on up."

Taking the bottle from Rick, Raven made sure that she supported the head of Sophia right, as she put the teat of the bottle against the baby's mouth, she must have been hungry because she began feeding immediately much to Raven's delight. What made her smile even more was that while she was holding the bottle up Sophia's little hand held onto her thumb, Raven smiled softly down at the baby.

Although she could hear the conversation going on, she didn't think it was right to butt in until Rick was finished;

"I won't pretend to know what Axel and Oscar have told you about me, but, rest assured," she glared harshly at the two women, her glares were...well they had been described as frightening and she hoped they were, these two deserved it "I'm not Satan in a dress, I don't intend to dunk Sofia's head in the boiling stove water, so be at peace ladies."

Treating them to her sickeningly sweet smile, she squeezed Sofia's little arm softly, she was almost done with her bottle, which meant she had to burp her before she settled down to sleep otherwise she'd feel sick;

"Ah ah ah not yet little one, you haven't finished your bottle." she hummed softly "Well I know quite a lot about babies, I read tonnes and tonnes of books about them before I came here."

Hershel and Rick were both pleased that she was offering them access to her garden, Rick because it meant she was trusting them more and Hershel because his newest hobby was cooking now. The older man smiled happily and nodded,

"Don't mind if I do." he agreed before smiling, "We've got a farming project out the front too. Got some seeds planted but not much else. When it's good for harvesting you're welcome to have some."

Rick had to admit that it was nice of her to offer the use of her tire swing to those who were young enough to enjoy it. Of course he made a mental note to enforce her little rule about telling her when they were going to enter. He could see that Carl and Beth were both pretty excited about something so casual, something so normal,

"If you don't mind I'd love to use it sometimes." Carl told her with a happy little smile, "Where abouts in your wing of the prison is it? It's free from Walkers isn't it?"

Rick watched as Raven fed Sophia, holding the baby perfectly to do so. She seemed like a complete natural at holding the child and he had to smile at that. Carol and Maggie looked a little bit uncomfortable about the whole thing but he honestly didn't care what they thought. When she explained that she wasn't as bad as the stories that they had heard, Maggie nodded in acceptance but Carol bristled,

"They told us how you had to be put into isolation because you were too dangerous to be around other hyper-violent prisoners." she declared with a small scowl, "You don't deserve to be near a baby if you're like that!"

Rick stared at Carol flatly for a moment, causing the woman to flinch,

"What did I just say Carol?" he asked her quietly, "Who I leave my child in the care of is my business, not yours."

When she explained that she had read tonnes of books on babies Rick was intrigued,

"Why did you read so much about babies?" he asked with a small smile, "That is, if you don't mind me asking."

Raven tilted her head to one side when she heard that he was going to be able to give her some of the things that they were growing when the seeds took, that was good, maybe they were growing things like potatoes and cabbages that she couldn't grow because the pots she had weren't deep enough or efficient enough to grow as many as she wanted to.

"Thank you, I will be sure to ask you if I require anything. What have you planted?" she asked, vaguely interested, and it felt good to be talking to someone again, talking about something that was totally normal and in another situation even perhaps mundane, but it felt good to Raven.

When Carl asked about where her tyre swing was she grinned, at least he might actually think about using it, she had to admit she thought that the group was nicer than she would have expected, apart from those two girls and she could take them out in no time if they continued to glare and look at her the way that they did. Betty would have lots of fun doing it too.

"Its on the third floor of the max security ward, so it's very safe, I clean it out regularly of walkers." Raven grinned "So you don't have to worry about that."

Even though she was feeding Sophia and trying her best not to do anything a baby wouldn't want to see, her eye twitched when the woman said what she did and if she had her arms free Betty would have had a new pretty coat of red all over her, but, she was being forced not to use violence which was...oddly frustrating for her. Although she would have to get used to it.

"Funny...you believe someone who I've never spoken to in my whole life instead of asking me about what happened?" she laughed harshly "And, if the stories they told you are true," Raven shot Carol another glare "Do you think it's a good idea to speak to me like that?"

Hearing Rick stick up for her Raven calmed down again and she placed the now finished bottle on the table in front of her;

"Oh you're such a good girl, yes you are." turning Sophia so that she was facing her chest, Raven patted her on the back lightly, seeing if she needed burping before she settled down to sleep, when she did, she allowed her to settle back down in her arms again "Now you can go to sleep, because you're tried aren't you? Yes, I think so."

When Rick asked her why she had read all those books, Raven's eyes widened a little bit, the memories were still there and still ever so poignant, however, she merely coughed softly and brought herself back to the conversation at hand;

"Well I had to, if you're going to be a mom you have to read the books now don't you?" she asked Sofia, attempting to make the rather painful statement not as painful by directing her answer to a baby "I had a little girl just like you, mhm her name was Charlotte."

Rick had to admit that talking about gardening bored him but the fact that she was talking about something so casual and normal with Raven and Hershel was good for them. It gave them something in common to bond over to some degree. Hershel smiled a little bit wider when she asked what they had planted while Rick groaned playfully. Shooting him a playful glare, Hershel smiled to her happily,

"Well Raven we have quite a few types of vegetables growing at the moment." he told her, quite proud of his little garden, "We have potatoes, sweet potatoes, carrots, cabbage, lettuce, broccoli and some herbs like mint and rosemary."

Carl was happy to hear that the area was usually free from Walkers but he could see that Beth was watching him rather intently so he puffed his chest up slightly,

"Awwww really? No Walkers?" he pretended to be a little bit disappointed, "I was hoping I could take the chance to work on shooting them while on the swing."

Beth commented on how brave Carl was for wanting to do that and he brightly, earning him another half-annoyed, half-amused, look from Hershel. Carol seemed to get the message though and was silent after Raven brought it into perspective that if she was as bad as Carol said then she'd go after her. And she hadn't yet, despite all the insults so Carol was wise enough to be quiet about it.

Seeing her being so good with Sophia, he smiled a little bit. She was a natural with the baby. To be fair the only person who was anywhere near as good with her was Beth and Hershel said that was because maternal instincts were inherited in her family. When she said that she had HAD a baby, past tense, Rick paused for a moment. Maggie took a plunge and asked,

"If you don't mind me asking..." she paused for a moment before continuing, "Where's little Charlotte now? She safe with her father or something?"

Raven could see that Hershel was happy that he was able to bring some fresh vegetables into the group's diets, some of them looked like they needed it they had really thin arms and figures and they seemed to be sort of tired and fatigued which comes from the lack of vitamins and minerals she supposed. Humming a little she tilted her head to one side;

"I would have tried to grow them, but my pots aren't deep enough and it would have been a waste." she stated with a small smile on her lips "Maybe we can pool our efforts sometime, share and share alike."

Raising an eyebrow at the little interaction between Carl and Beth and she couldn't help but think how sweet it was, young love, of course it would all go wrong when they got older so they should enjoy it while they could. Love always became a horrible series of affairs when you got older. Or it had been in her experience anyway, although she was sure her experience wasn't like the vast majority.

"I'm sure I could leave some in there, if you were that eager, although I assume your parents would be happier, if the area was 'walker free'." she smirked a little bit "Am I right?"

Although she had mentioned her darling Charlotte in passing she was not ready at all to talk about her in any detail, but, it was a little bit odd, she wanted to be able to talk about it, but it was one of the women who didn't like her, why should she tell her about such a sensitive issue? Maybe she would understand a little bit more about her, and stop thinking she was...well okay she was actually as bad as the stories when pushed but, not when it came to Sophia.

"I don't know where it is, but, I hope that it's not with that man, she'd be better off at the bottom of a ditch somewhere than in his company." she muttered, her gaze fixed on the little sweet baby in her hands, she never had a chance to know her baby, she had been taken away from her as soon as she was born, barely even had chance to hold her.

Handing Sofia back to Rick, now she was sound asleep, Raven stood up from her chair;

"I should be leaving now." she stated softly "Thanks for the meal."

This was exactly the reason why Rick was listening to a conversation about gardening even though gardening bored the hell out of him. She was willing to pool resources with them and that was amazing. Hershel looked to Rick and Rick smiled a little bit, giving the older man a nod of approval. Hershel smiled wider than before and nodded,

"Well then I'll start helping you if you'll help me too." he told her happily, patting his leg stump forlornly, "I can plant just fine and it's one of my few pleasures now. If you'd like we can expand the patch that the group has at the moment and use some of your seeds, we could have much wider areas for tomatoes and such."

Beth and Carl blushed together at the thought of their parents, turning to Rick and Hershel. Rick just chuckled a little bit and shook his head,

"Walker-free is the way to go. Carl and Beth can handle Walkers easily..." he said, causing them to both inflate with pride, "But it's how they'd deal with the adrenaline afterwards when they would be alone. Near a cell with a bed in it."

Beth and Carl blushed even brighter and Hershel raised an eyebrow. It was rather clear that Rick had hit the nail on the head when it came to their little teenage fantasies there. Chuckling a little bit, he shook his head ruefully. The comment about Charlotte, Raven's child, being completely out of her reach was bad enough. But hearing that she was better of dead than with her father made the mood in the room drop by quite a lot. Maggie was sympathetic but curious,

"How old would she be?" she asked gently, "In case we run into anyone her age."

Rick accepted Sophia back from Raven with a small smile as she stood up,

"Let me and Sophia walk you back." he suggested, cradling his baby lovingly in his arms, "Least we can do seeing as you're still our guest."

Raven picked up Betty from the chair and she fitted her shoulder guard back on underneath her shirt, allowing the bloodied blades of the chainsaw to rest on her shoulder again before she made herself completely ready to leave the cell block. Although she had had a nice time here bringing up her daughter was something that really had knocked her out of shape, she knew she should leave to get herself under control before she did something stupid.

When she heard the woman, Maggie ask how old her little girl would be, Raven smiled softly, it would always be one of her biggest regrets not getting to know her daughter, but she did always write out a birthday card on the day she was born and send it to her. Whether it got to her or not she didn't know, but Raven liked to think it was the thought that counted.

"She would be five, but I doubt that she'll be anywhere around here." she stated with a small smirk pulling her lips, she had moved away from that place a long time ago, but unfortunately her troubles followed with her.

Although she was keen to get going, she wasn't about to go storming off from the table because something sensitive had been touched on. Raven waited for a little while for Rick to be ready, before smiling at him a little bit, she was glad he was willing to follow her;

"Thanks Rick." Raven smiled, "I might see you all again sometime."

Bowing her head to the people still sitting at the table, Raven opened the door and held it open for Rick and Sophia, as she began to walk out to the exercise yard, the bodies were still there and were beginning to smell even worse than before.

"You have some nice people in your group." she stated with a small smile "Apart from the Stealer and that short haired woman I would have thoroughly enjoyed that little excursion."

Maggie and the rest of the group accepted the answer. Just because she was in this prison, didn't mean she had actually come from anywhere in the surrounding area. When she told them the age of the girl they all memorised it and Maggie smiled faintly,

"Well stranger things have happened." she told Raven with a small nod, "We'll keep an eye out anyway. Maybe she was taken in by another group of survivors or something?"

They all waved her goodbye as Rick walked her over to the maximum security wing, rocking Sophia gently as he did so. She wasn't even stirring at all at the movement,

"You do good work with babies, she's out like a light. My group has some nice people in yeah." he chuckled a little bit at the exceptions she pointed out, "Daryl is a good guy once you get to know him. And Carol... well... Okay Carol is a bit of a bitch but every group has one."

He smiled lightly at her and tipped and imaginary hat when they reached her door,

"This is your door ma'm." he joked with a wink, "I'll see you tomorrow yeah? Hershel will want to see you about the garden and we can go Walker hunting."

And there it was! The second chapter :D

Please do review let me know what you think about it :3

What do you think should come from the relationship between Raven and Rick hm? Any thoughts about anything I'd be happy to hear them! :D


	3. Hell in the Headspace

Authors Note:

Unfortunately this chapter is a little shorter than the others, although I enjoy writing fight scenes they don't half tire you out :P

Anyway, enjoy this chapter! And beware the gore :P

OH and one thing I forgot to mention, kind of important as well…ooops XD

Lori is already dead by this point, she had her baby early and afterwards was attacked and bitten by a walker in her weakened state :(

Which is why she isn't in the group intro last chapter, and why she isn't off having her child now :3

Rick had been enjoying a rather quiet patrol to be honest, walking around the perimeter fence to make sure that there weren't going to be any Walkers getting in. Then it had all gone to shit when Carl had come rushing over to tell him that, somehow, Walkers from the yard had made their way into the main prison complex again and were swarming in an attempt to get closer to where his group was living.

Honestly, right now he couldn't care less if there were Walkers in a part of the prison that neither his group nor Raven used, like one of the five exercise yards. But what he did care about was when said Walkers were making their way closer to them. Moving across the yard between the group's cell block and Raven's, Rick growled a little bit.

There were even a handful of Walkers here!

Gritting his teeth, he killed all five of them with calm and measured shots to the head while they were stumbling towards him. Reaching the door, he banged on it a few times before opening it slightly so that he could be heard inside,

"Hey Raven!" he called out, trying to see where she was from the door, "Raven there's a massive group of Walkers been let into the prison... do you fancy coming with me to help clear them out?"

His eyes darkened a little bit and he added,

"And then we can execute the son of a bitch who let them back in... what do you say?"

Raven had been having a rather nice time in her cell block she had just gotten some new gas for her generator and was currently trying to gather up enough water to fill herself a bath, she wanted to have a nice relaxing soak, she felt she deserved that much, but, the truth was there just wasn't enough water for her to even begin to start filling the bath, even if she could make the water hot now.

Sighing lightly, she peered out of the window of the corridor and frowned when she saw that there were an increased amount of walkers moving their way through here. It was odd, there hadn't been this many up this way for a long time, something must have scared them out of the other sections of the prison, which meant that there was probably another group nearby.

Someone who was looking to take over her home no doubt.

As she grit her teeth, Raven scowled, but her expression lightened when she heard Rick knocking on the door to her cell block, immediately she was on board. It meant killing something, and, it was a great outlet for her feelings, so that she didn't take them out on some of the people who actually still lived in this world. Walkers were great for letting stress out upon.

Swiftly, she picked up Betty and slung her over her shoulder, before picking up an axe on her way, two weapons in case Betty somehow ran out of juice, although she had topped her up as soon as she had found that canister of gas.

"I say, lets go." she grinned as she opened the door "I have been itching for a good fight, killing one or two zombies isn't a challenge, it should be fun, right Rick?"

Rick was reloading his pistol already. His machete was as sharp as he could keep it while still expecting it to be able to cleave through a skull, Walker or otherwise, without breaking in half. He had no idea there were this many Walkers in the prison and the surrounding area but apparently there were. The damned things were coming out of the wood-work. Even now one stumbled up to the fence at the other end of the yard. Annoyed at the Walker for simply being there, Rick took aim and fired, causing it's head to cave in with a shower of gore and blood.

When Raven came into sight with both her chainsaw and another axe he grinned a little bit. There was just something about having a homicidal little sex kitten along with him that made killing Walkers sound a heck of a lot more fun right now. Usually Rick hated to admit it but he enjoyed killing the Walkers. Why shouldn't he? They killed his wife, they killed his entire town, they were the reason for so many terrible things. Why shouldn't he hated them enough to enjoy putting them back down into the ground. Not that he'd ever buried a Walker or had any plans to do so. He smirking a little bit as he led her towards his section of the prison,

"Yeah well this should be much more than a challenge." he agreed with a little smirk, "Especially since the others don't appear to have been able to wait."

Seeing that the meeting point was empty it meant that the group had gone on ahead to try and fight off the mini-horde coming their way. He smirked slightly and held out a hand for Raven to take, bowing as if asking her to dance,

"Shall we?"

Raven giggled a little bit when she saw Rick shooting the walker in the head, it was such a wonderful display of protection and a wonderful shot she couldn't help but be impressed with what he had done. Although she was still more than a little worried about the fact there were so many walkers in the first place, they would have to fight smart as well as fight brutally today, it should be a challenge.

Running her hands through her hair, Raven hummed as she readied Betty in her hand, she was strong enough to carry her one handed although when it came to cutting the zombies down she was more effective using both hands by far.

"I wonder why there are so many of them here...do you really believe someone would have been that stupid as to have brought them all here?" she asked with a hint of malicious mirth to her voice "How idiotic, knowing that we two are here, and that we would never let anything happen to this prison...I do hope we find who is responsible...I won't have had that much fun for years!"

As she slipped her hand into Rick's own, Raven blushed slightly. He was becoming a lot more bold she had to say, and more than that, he was becoming a lot more important to her, this Rick. Raven wasn't sure whether that was a good thing, or whether she should be keeping her distance, it was too hard to tell right now if she really could trust him.

But she hoped she could.

"Yes, let's go." Raven grinned as she hurried towards the growling and grunting sounds of the horde of Walkers ahead, letting go of Rick's hand she pulled the chain of Betty and she roared into life drawing the walkers attention to her, but the front lines were already being hacked in all sorts of ways by the sharp double blades on her chainsaw.

Splashing herself with the blood and gore, Raven pouted and ran behind some cover, tying her bandana around her mouth, she grinned, no more of that going near her mouth. She loved that bandana as it made the bottom half of her face look like a skull.

"Oh what fun...but, there are much more than I would have expected, are there many inside the prison as well?"

Rick chuckled a little bit when she giggled at his shot to the head of the Walker. To be fair it was rather amusing, in a sick kind of way, to see what would happen to the head when it was shot. Honestly, it was never the same effect twice. Every time he shot a Walker in the head something different happened to the skull, sometimes parts detached and sometimes it caved in. On certain, memorable, occasions parts of the head had seemed to disappear into red mist,

"I think someone has been drawing them in somehow. Not to mention when we first arrived we managed to herd a lot of them into some of the exercise yards. It wouldn't be too hard to add them to the general population of Walkers we have in the prison." he admitted before chuckling a little bit, "Honestly I think someone might have been that stupid. Maybe there was a prisoner that both of our groups missed? Maybe it was that one sneaky little fucker who got away... who knows. Won't matter really, either way we're going to kill them."

When Raven slipped her smooth, slightly cold, hand into his own, Rick smiled reassuringly as she blushed at the action. She wasn't used to this much human interaction it seemed. Or perhaps she was just appreciating the affection that he was trying to put across more and more in his actions towards her? After all she was an attractive woman and he was very interested in knowing more about her as what he knew so far was very intriguing,

"Ah to have fun in the company of a Lady." he teased her a little bit before they were upon the lead Walkers. Using his machete for the most part, Rick helped Raven cut a bloody path through the first group of Walkers, cutting and slashing at their heads. When she ducked behind a wall he took the opportunity to take his gun out with his other hand, firing only when he was sure to get two or more heads with one bullet. It was surprisingly easy to do in the narrow corridor. He smirked, "Oh there are many, many Walkers inside the prison. I've seen the hordes stretch entire corridors... we have our whole day booked!"

Raven didn't like the idea that someone had been wanting to cause more trouble for them, but she did like the way that Rick was talking about what they were going to end up doing to them when they did eventually catch them. There was no way that a person on their own would be able to make it out of the prison alive, so they would search for them until they found the little rat and squeezed its neck for what it had done.

"Oh yes, we are." she purred softly "Anyone who puts my home in danger has something to answer to, and, I was just figuring out how I was going to make the bath work...he's ruined my plans for a relaxing Sunday afternoon."

Sighing a little bit she moved out from behind her little hiding place and automatically went to covering Rick again, she wanted to make sure that he wasn't hurt, as well as protecting herself when she could. Although she wasn't sure about him, she definitely knew she didn't want him dead just yet. Raven needed to figure him out first, before that did or didn't happen.

"A whole day?" she asked with a groan "Oh I am all for fun and games but that's no good at all, my arm is going to get sore and Betty is going to get really dull...do you know how hard it is to keep her blades in good shape? This guy is going to have a lot to answer to." Raven growled.

Choosing to save Betty for when the fighting got really bad Raven changed it up and started to use her axe instead, hacking large chunks out of walkers heads as she moved into their ranks, there was a close call when she was pinned against a chain link fence, but she was able to get herself out of it, by raising the axe high enough to cleave through two heads at once.

"Where to next, you know this section of the prison better than me." she hissed lightly, panting softly from the exertion, like Raven admitted before, she hadn't fought this many walkers for a long long time.

Rick had tried to live by a simple mantra. Well it was simple to say at the very least. Don't kill the living. But the simple fact was that whoever had set the Walkers on them was going to die in a terrible way for putting his group in danger. They finally had a good thing going here after wandering for so long and Raven didn't deserve to have her limited sense of peace disrupted either. So the instigator of this was going to die and they were going to die painfully if Rick had his way,

"You'll certainly need a bath after all the hard work we're going to have to do because of that prick." he agreed before smirking a little bit, "Run out of water or something? We, thankfully, have plenty to share. I'll bring some over for you."

Rick couldn't do anything but chuckle as he fired another shot, getting three Walkers with the one shot. His record was five with one shot but three was respectable. Slashing out with his machete, he cut a Walker's head clean in half before kicking it's stumbling body back into the last remaining Walkers of the group,

"Oh maybe not the whole day." he admitted even as he fired a bullet right between the eyes of a Walker laid on its back on the ground. He nodded in understanding, "I don't imagine you've been out to check the hardware store in the town... might have new blades for her. I'm sure Betty would love having a new set of blades. Make her feel all pretty and new."

Now that they had put down the last of the large amount of Walkers, Rick held out a bottle of water for Raven to drink from. He was breathing heavily but one good thing about wandering was that it was great for the fitness levels. Rolling his shoulders, he gestured to a door that he knew would lead them back inside, to the next section of the prison,

"That door will take us into the kitchens." he told her with a small smile, "We can regroup with the others there. See if we can find the source of this and end it while the rest of the group fights the Walkers."

Raven laughed softly when Rick said she was going to be needing a bath after all the grime and gore she was going to have go get through in order to make her home safe again, although, one main worry was flaring through her mind, and had been doing so for a very long time now, since she had first seen the little heard of walkers outside the cell block.

She hoped baby Sophia was alright.

Although she wasn't her baby she had become really attached to her and she didn't want anything to happen to her while she was away and especially not now there were walkers wandering around the prison. Raven had to make sure that nothing happened ot her.

"I believe that might be a conversation for another time. Where is baby Sophia? Did you leave her safely in the cell block, or is she en route somewhere?" Raven asked, her eyes darting around the yard, there were no walkers that were moving, but she decided all the ones that had their bodies hacked off but their heads could still bite needed to be taken care of and so she axed them all.

"Well maybe you could make yourself useful and as a thank you for helping you clear the prison, you can go and get me some." she smirked a little bit "It hurts sometimes trying to sharpen her, the cuts are really very annoying."

It was quite impressive, they had managed to kill the rest of the large body of walkers, they really were on a roll today. It did not bode well though for the amount of walkers there would be inside the Prison, she could only hope the rest of the group, including that Stealer, had made themselves useful and actually managed to kill a fair few of them themselves.

Making her way towards the door that Rick gestured to, Raven smirked a little bit, before leading with her axe first, it was highly possible there were walkers there, but, it was also possible the other humans were there too, and she didn't want to mow them down with Betty.

"Alright, let's go then." she grinned, as she kicked open the door and without a second thought, stepped inside.

Sorry about the length of that chapter guys :(

I hope that the gore and awesome fighting made up for it though, left you guessing about what happened at the end ;D

Obviously they can't die though, they have the rest of the story to go together! ;D

Favourite and Follow to be alerted of the new chapters coming up :3

Thanks for reading! :D


	4. Black Magic Woman

Authors Note:

Hello there guys! :D

Here is the first draft of a steamy chapter between Rick and Raven, united in their mutual sort of madness at this stage in the show :P

Please enjoy! :D

Raven had been away from the group for quite a while now, she had some emotions she didn't know how to handle and was trying to figure them out, she didn't want to hurt anybody in the group because she knew that would upset Rick. What was more upsetting to her was that the feelings were related directly to Rick. Whenever she thought about him or saw him she felt something she didn't know how to rightly explain.

She had only felt it once before and she wasn't going to allow herself to be put in that same situation that HE had put her in. She knew though that Rick was not like him, Rick would not do anything like that to her because Rick was like her, he knew how to treat her and how not to treat her. Biting her lip a little she stripped out of her bloodied clothes, dropping them on the floor.

Wiping at her soft skin with her water and flannel to remove the blood on her skin, she had gone out killing walkers to try and relieve the tension. Raven had found that it unfortunately hadn't worked. She had however figured out that she desired Rick, like she had desired HIM. Only, this time it felt a little different, this time she was sure that Rick would treat her properly because she trusted Rick, he didn't make her feel cornered, he didn't make her feel like she had to do anything...

Pulling on a new set of black lace underwear, a French pantie set with matching bra, Raven rubbed at the bruise on her shoulder where Betty had dug in through her cover as she had carried her around as she fought. Sighing softly her attention was drawn to a sound outside her room, immediately, her eyes narrowed and she plucked the knife from her garter belt with ease.

Rick had been seeing to some of the planting of crops out the front of the prison for most of the morning. It had taken him quite a while to almost bully Glenn and Maggie into helping the one-legged Hershel in doing the planting. Honestly, they were just so lazy and they needed a good kick up the arse to show them the way. Not at all like Raven.

Ah Raven.

Now there was someone who had been occupying Rick's thoughts quite a lot as of late. She was said to be in the prison block again now after clearing some Walkers out of somewhere else. No one else would be there though; they all had chores to do, heaven help them if he found anything wrong with their work because they needed to be prepared to fight off any invaders.

Wandering towards the room he thought Raven would be in, he turned around the corner and froze in place where he was, his eyes wide.

There she was alright but she was damned near naked and wearing some very sexy underwear too. He couldn't help but lick his lips a little bit, trying to ignore the knife in her hand as his eyes looked up and down her sexy body,

"Wow... hello there Raven." he greeted her with a small smirk, "I see I caught you getting changed... you're so very, very beautiful right now I must say..."

Raven when she saw that the man who had entered her block was Rick, decided that she was going to allow this new feeling for desire to run through her and she would embrace it as something she should harbour, it seemed that it would be something pleasurable for both her and Rick in this situation. If things turned out to be not like she thought then she would simply kill him like she had sworn to do to HIM after he had done those things to her.

When he looked at her like that her feelings spread even more, and slipping her knife back into her garter she stepped forwards to meet Rick where he stood, a playful yet malicious smirk working its way onto her lips. Even if the man was still grieving for the loss of his wife, Raven wanted him and she always got what she wanted, so, now was time to start that process.

"You like this?" she asked simply "Well I wasn't expecting anyone to come in and look at me, if I did then I would have worn something a little more...extravagant."

Slowly she moved even closer so that her body was almost touching Ricks as she placed her hands on her hips, softly stroking her smooth skin with her fingers as she looked up into his eyes, that same mischievous smirk didn't move from her lips;

"Was there something you wanted to talk to me about, or are you just here to admire the view?" Raven asked, her voice was silky and smooth but, as ever an undertone of danger ran through it, she just hoped that Rick found dangerous women attractive.

Rick had to admit that the sight before him was one that he had not ever seen the equal of. He licked his lips a little bit and couldn't help but notice the fact that she hadn't put the knife down but had just slipped it back into place on her garter belt. That wasn't exactly the best place as far as he was concerned... but it kept it within reach if he wanted to show how impatient he was for her by cutting the underwear off of her as fast as he could.

Moving closer to her, he couldn't help but smirk a little bit when she said about wearing something more extravagant,

"And what would you have done if you had known it was just me?" he asked her with a soft purr, "And that no one else is even in this prison block?"

When she asked him if there was something he wanted to talk to her about he couldn't help but lick his lips again and nod in agreement,

"I came to speak to you about certain feelings growing between us." He told her honestly before smirking a little bit, "I really do hope the feelings of affection... desire... are mutual too. I have this unmistakable urge to kiss you right now."

Raven couldn't help but smirk when she heard Rick ask her what she would have done if she had known that it was just them in the prison block, now that she did know that she was half tempted to go upstairs and change so that she could surprise Rick with something from her Collection, although this collection was far more private. A lot of...sexual objects she used.

"What would I have done?" she asked with a purr "Well I probably wouldn't have raised my knife on you for a start and...I mightn't have waited this long to pounce on you and give you exactly what you have come here for in an extremely pleasurable fashion."

As soon as she heard that Rick had the same feelings for her as she had for him Raven knew this was all she needed to know before she started doing what she wanted to do with Rick, she was certain she would get great enjoyment out of it, and he would as well.

Closing the distance she wrapped her arms around his neck and tugged her body close to his so that he could feel each of her soft warm curves pressing against him as she tilted her head up to kiss his lips. It was a passionate kiss, her lips moving against Ricks at a swift pace, sucking his bottom lip into his mouth as she pushed Rick back against the wall, softly rubbing her body against his.

"Funny you might say that." Raven muttered as she kissed and nibbled at Rick's neck "I had that same urge you just mentioned."

Rick had to admit that he had been playing a dangerous game. This was Raven he was talking about after all; assuming things about Raven tended to get people and Walkers killed rather messily. But thankfully, Rick knew enough about Raven to read the signs in her body. To read the way that she looked at him and to recognise that it was the same way that he looked at her so there was no difference between their feelings for each other in his mind,

"Mmmm I must admit that that would have been an even better entrance to this room, even though my first entrance was amazing in its own right." he told her with a little bit of a purr, "So what's stopping you from pouncing on me now?"

The distance between them shrank in seconds and Rick wrapped his arms around her waist when she wrapped hers around his neck. Pushing himself forwards, he kissed her passionately back on the lips, enjoying the way that their lips worked against each other hard. His back pressed against the wall and he moaned lightly into the kiss, his hands stroking up and down her soft back in the hopes that she wouldn't mind him taking the lead in touching each other,

"Mmmm it's a strong urge isn't it?" he observed with a wink before licking his lips a little bit and moving so that she was now pinned to the wall, "Such a strong urge that I can't resist..."

He moaned happily as he kissed Raven harder and with all of his passion as his hands roamed around her body gently, teasingly.

Raven enjoyed feeling Rick's hands on her body they were so warm and yet so rough on her smooth skin it was like nothing she had felt before, it made her whole self tingle with a pleasure she hadn't felt since that first magical time she had, apart from the fact that it wasn't magical when she looked at it in the grand scheme of what that man had done to her.

Now was not the time for those thoughts though. Now was the time for enjoyment, passion and pleasure.

His return of the passionate kiss made Raven moan softly as Rick did, her hands moving up his neck to his hair where she wound her fingers inside it, wanting him to be closer to her, not to stop touching her body with his lips, with his hands. As he stroked up and down her back she shivered softly, she was so unused to being touched Raven found pleasure in such a soft gentle gesture.

"Well then don't resist Rick, we're both old enough to know what we want, and I know that I want you." Raven purred silkily into his ear "So don't stop."

Gasping as she was pushed against the wall instead Raven growled softly into the passionate kiss she returned, nipping his bottom lip and slipping her tongue into his mouth to slide along his own, increasing the depth of the kiss as she did so. The intensity of the feeling made her moan again, Raven swiftly wrapped one leg around Rick's waist, pulling him in closer to her.

"Hm." she chuckled "Are you trying to tease me Officer Grimes?" Raven asked with a purr "I'm a dangerous woman to tease, don't you know."

Raven was going to move in swiftly for another kiss, but, a sound down the corridor made her growl and place both of her feet on the floor, what with that walker outbreak the other day she couldn't be too cautious. Maybe they weren't able to destroy and burn them all? Although, as soon as she heard the tapping of a rather familiar set of crutches, Raven looked up at Rick with a rather pissed off expression.

Goddamn it Hershel. She cursed in her mind. Things were just starting to get good here.

As he peeked his head into the cell block, the rather knowing look that he gave Rick was something that promised the two of them were going to have a little talk about this later on. It made Raven wonder why, why would they have to talk about this? Surely he didn't think that Rick should avoid such intimacy because of his wife that passed away? He had his time to grieve…he didn't even like his wife much anyway!

Unable to stop her pout, Raven scurried off to change into more concealing clothes, while Rick was beckoned to speak with Hershel, but about what she couldn't be sure.

Well well well then! :D

Another short chapter however, I didn't want this to be a big long affair, it was an experiment just to see how they would fit together in a situation like this. Do they fit, or not? :3

Please rate and review guys! :D

Thanks for reading :3


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